Feria!! San Telmo street market

Tango dancers and performers beat drums and dance in the streets, the sun shines and antiques, hand-woven rugs, bright jewellery & silverware are laid out for the literally hundreds of people who come to experience the atmosphere and pick up the seriously cool, unique bargains on offer.

The Feria de San Telmo (Buenos Aires) is held every Sunday; it runs the length of La Defensa from Plaza Dorrego to Plaza de Mayo. 

Along with La Boca, San Telmo is one of the oldest and most historically rich areas in Buenos Aires. Along its cobblestoned streets lay tango parlours, antiques shops filled with silverware, cafes, bars & restaurants. It is an area filled with passion for dance, music, food, and life in general - yet it is also lined with sorrow and a sense of faded desperation.

 Every Thursday for many years, the Madres (Mothers) de Plaza de Mayo have convened at the Plaza to protest their children who 'disappeared' during the last military dictatorship from 1976-1983. They wear head scarves embroidered with their children's names and while perhaps no longer fighting with the hope of being reunited, they implore us not to forget the tens of thousands (military admits to 9,000; the Madres estimate 30,000) who went missing and are still unaccounted for. The history is horrendous; Wikipedia have an entry on the association and history at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mothers_of_the_Plaza_de_Mayo

Despite the past, San Telmo is a very upbeat, must-see barrio (suburb), especially for the feria on Sundays. It lies between Retiro and La Boca (see the previous Romancing La Boca post http://apasionadotravel.blogspot.com/2011/03/romancing-la-boca.html); and is the perfect way to spend a Sunday late-morning-till-early-evening. Sample empanadas from various vendors wandering along the street (there's an older couple who sell huge, delicious 'carne' - meat - ones so keep an eye out for them!), stop off at a cafe and have a glass of wine or a beer, haggle gently with the street jewellery sellers and wind up at Plaza Dorrego around 5 or 6pm, in time for the serious tango dancing to start.